Women's Cross Country

XC | Women Finish 5th, Men 8th, at OUA Championships

Oct 28, 2017

The Laurentian cross-country running team competed at the OUA Championships in Windsor this weekend, returning with 5th and 8th place finishes. The 5th place finish for the women's squad qualified them for the USports national Championships in Victoria in two weeks, while the men's 8th place finish left them only three points from qualifying. This was the first OUA championship in which the women competed over eight kilometres.

The women's team featured three runners in the top-23 and was once again led by Jenny Bottomley who placed 18th a time of 29:17 over the 8km course. She was closely followed by Heidi Tuszkiewicz, who placed 20th in 29:33 and Megan Crocker who was 23rd in 29:41. Nicole Rich was 33rd in 30:19 and Jessie Nusselder was 37th in 30:38 to complete the scoring. Displacers were rookies Nicole Sartor who placed 48th in 31:14 and Meghan Sippel who was 58th in 31:58.

"Jenny and Heidi put themselves in the lead pack with a group of elite athletes for the first of three laps," said associate head coach, Darren Jermyn. "They dropped a bit after a surge in the second lap, but then hung tough until the end of the race. Megan Crocker started more conservatively, but just got stronger with every lap. The other women ran tremendous races as well. All in all, it was an exciting performance – to give you some perspective of how fast they were running, Jenny went through the 5km mark in 18:18, then ran three more kilometres. Our goal now will be to rehab as quickly as possible, then get in a couple of good workouts before Nationals in two weeks."

The men's squad was led by rookie Paul Sagriff, who placed 28th over the 10km course in a time of 31:46. He was followed by Liam Passi who was 34th in 32:08, Caleb Beland who was 51st in 33:09, Sam Delage who was 63rd in 34:32 and Jarod Milford who was 66th in 34:52. Displacers were Gordie Chown and Jordan Burkitt who placed 76th and 78th in 35:29 and 35:39 respectively. Six out of the seven runners ran personal best times.

"The men have made remarkable progress since their return three years ago," said head coach, Dick Moss. "Their team average today was 33:17 for the 10km, and they've improved by almost a minute every season. Today, they were only three points from qualifying for nationals. And they know how to race hard when it counts. Almost all of them ran personal bests over a hard course today."